Saint Without a Halo

Boruc for me every time

good point the Scottish top division just isn't challenging

Well that was an out followed by an instant in! can we now do the same on the footballing side?

The same argument applies to however we buy (minus only the payments to other clubs and the agents fees etc) So no real difference really.

Didn't know we were in for some WW1 veterans! Time to bring the Sash back then!

Agreed but players bought in are also not paid for in full upfront so effectively the transfer fees secured (92m)minus those spent to date and say 5% for agents etc are fully available to spend assuming you want to spend it. Re players bought previously these were largely paid for by TV monies. Indeed we also should have a further 90m of TV money this year to help pay off the remainder of the previous purchases plus club expenses and wages etc. and the club have stated clearly the monies secured are available for new players and new wages.

Any good players we are after will not want to commit till late in the window after they have made certain no clubs with CL football want them. we are not an attractive place to be at present and are only option is to wait till the end of the window and pay more.

Agreed especially as it seems according to some that all our players left chasing money! Well we have some money so why aren't we completing any deals? Possibly because 1) Players are reluctant to join us given the publicity of what is happening at the club and will wait till deadline day to see what other offers they might get 2) The selling clubas are holding us to ransom as they know we have money and need players Looks like we will be left with the players others don't want unless Koeman can use his contacts again to get players who will play for him rather than Saints as he did with Pelle and Tadic as both were unlikely to be on our list

What ever happened to all those talented players identified by our scouts and desperate to join us then!

Ah but that was two days ago news moves on!

NC used loans as to get us up the leagues as offering them 3 year contracts was costly as we saw with the likes of Barnard and Sharpe when we moved beyond their abilities. His plans in the premier were always to buy young up and coming talented players like Clyne, Rodriques, Wanyama, Loveren and Ramierez who he hoped would mature long term with the team. Buying loans in the premier is basically insurance against going down as you don't want the reverse i.e too many highly paid premier players on long contracts when you are relegated. It is basically a hedge against relegation. We are therefore looking down in fear now rather than up in hope!

True! But did they sell half their team I must have missed it!

Spot on! Nothing we have done since is a patch on the 1st day of May 1976! (I was 17)! We were also 2nd in 1983 I think it was, just 3 points behind a very good Liverpool team!

It was always a money generating exercise difference is NC saw more money being generated as the club progressed KL seems to have decided it cant progress much further so need to start cashing in!

True but Amortised costs are spread over a number of years so the annual cost of the amortisation is deducted before tax the same for the transfer profits which are also spread over a number of years to match the amortised costs. so the costs are in fact set against transfer profit.

Tax is not an issue money in will be staged over many years and offset against other costs such as transfers in, wages, ground and academy investments etc. Tax is only paid on annual profits of the business declared annually, not on transfer fees received. New transfers in will also be phased over many years too. I am sure this is one thing the board will have good advice on! Dividends are paid after tax but not loan maintenance costs or repayments so if KL's invested monies are loans they can be paid back before tax if they are equity she can only take dividends on the equity through declared profits after tax. Not sure the club has declared an official profit for years!

Spot on particularly as one of the reasons trotted out for selling our players was their high wage bill and bonuses.

Corporation Tax is only paid on declared profits if we spend the money on incoming transfers and wages and even on the academy no tax is due! Otherwise 23% of it will go to HM Government. (but again only after any loans are paid off)

The spine is usually the centre forward (Lambert) the Centre Midfield (Lalanna although he was sometimes on the right) and Centre of Defence (Lovren) so in a way we have lost the spine although I agree Lovren is the only big miss!

Whether or not we believe the board, that they have not lost ambition, is irrelevant suffice to say if the ambition to continue improving was there they appear to have failed miserably to convey it to the players who certainly do not appear to believe it, hence they all wanted out!

Our wages were never out of kilter with where we were (see all published reports on club wage bills as a percentage of revenue ). NC was constantly giving players new contracts as our football league position and club revenues increased. The top players were always underpaid compared to their peers at bigger clubs and they stayed on the basis the club had ambition they were enjoying the cameraderie and management style of Mopo and as the football improved so did the income and their pay. The moment they felt the club was losing momentum and ambition this finally balanced motivating tactic was disturbed and after a few of them had their heads turned whilst with England and Mopo left, the club planned to let a few of them go to create a fund for Koeman to build his team. However what was a planned trickle suddenly became a flood they did not anticipate, did not nip in the bud and could not control. That is where they failed! As a result he have had lots of cash come in at once an issue that is putting us on the back foot with potential joiners who are reluctant to join a club seen from the outside in Turmoil and whose clubs are greedy for our cash. That is why the only joiners to date have been those known by Koeman and have joined largely because of him.

Schelotto, Tadier and Bertrand as the three would be very underwhelming!

Agreed

We will take anyone now for Osvaldo!

Surely we knew that when opening the negotiations and maybe we should have targeted Dier?